A SPY IN THE STRUGGLE due out in Dec 2020. SIDE CHICK NATION, wins first place International Latino Book Award.

On 9/12/20, SIDE CHICK NATION, the first novel published about Hurricane Maria, was selected for first place in the International Latino Book Awards for a novel in English that is an adventure or drama.

The story is about a young sex worker from NYC who was pimped as a teen, and when she gets caught in the disaster, she’s politically awakened to action about colonization and climate change.

On December 29, 2020, Aya’s first standalone novel is due out, A SPY IN THE STRUGGLE. A young Black woman attorney working for the FBI is unexpectedly sent to infiltrate an African American eco-racial justice organization. But when she encounters a suspicious death, hostile white Bureau supervisors and sympathetic Black activists , where will her loyalty land?

The following are a few review quotes:

“Gripping feminist heist fiction about turning the tables on the disaster capitalists in the jaws of climate apocalypse? Improbably and thrillingly, Aya de Leon has pulled off exactly that with SIDE CHICK NATION. I couldn’t put it down.” -Naomi Klein author The Shock Doctrine

About SIDE CHICK NATION: 

“The fourth title in de León’s genre-bending Justice Hustlers series is a multifaceted tale. On one level, it’s an entertaining feminist heist tale with a satisfying Robin Hood–style caper or two, but where the book truly shines is in spotlighting the challenges facing former sex workers and in angling an unflinching lens on the plight of Puerto Rico, both before and after the Maria disaster….An absorbing, enlightening book that exemplifies the power of good storytelling.”

–Kirkus Reviews

De León’s…layered tale weaves heist capers, romantic suspense, and unforgettable realism in a look at Puerto Rico after it was devastated by Hurricane Maria…De León brings feminism, racial equality, and page-turning entertainment to the best book yet in her uniquely powerful Justice Hustlers series.

—Booklist Starred Review by Amy Alessio

“This book is powerful and piercing, brilliantly illuminating the plight of the islands in accessible ways, but it’s also immensely entertaining and gratifying….A powerful, empowering triumph.”

—Kirkus Reviews, Must-Read Fiction 

“Gripping feminist heist fiction about turning the tables on the disaster capitalists in the jaws of climate apocalypse? Improbably and thrillingly, Aya de Leon has pulled off exactly that with SIDE CHICK NATION. I couldn’t put it down.”

—Naomi Klein author of The Shock Doctrine